Ravinia 2022, Issue 4

BONNIE PERKINSON (CONLON); SIMON PAULY (MEACHEM); OLIVIA KAHLER (WILLIS-SØRENSEN) JAMES CONLON, conductor Since his New York Philharmonic debut in 1974, James Conlon has conducted virtually every major North American and Europe- an orchestra. A highly versatile conductor, Conlon has been engaged as music director of Los Angeles Opera since 2006 and be- gan his first season as artistic advisor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra last fall. In 2017 he became principal conductor of Ita- ly’s RAI National Symphony Orchestra, the first American to hold the position. For 11 years (2005–15) Conlon was Ravinia’s music director, a milestone of his now 34-season, 176-concert relationship with the festival that began in 1977. During his tenure, he led complete cycles of Mahler’s symphonies and Mozart’s piano concertos, several concert and semi-staged operas, and gala performances featuring Van Cliburn, Plácido Domingo, Pat- ti LuPone, and Jessye Norman, among many others. Conlon is Music Director Laureate of the Cincinnati May Festival—in recognition of his 37 years (1979–2016) as its leader, one of the longest tenures at any American clas- sical music institution—and he has also been principal conductor of the Paris Opera (1995– 2004); general music director of the City of Cologne, Germany (1989–2002), leading both the Gürzenich Orchestra and Cologne Opera; and music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic (1983–91). His extensive opera credits include over 270 performances at the Metropolitan Opera since his 1976 debut, as well as conducting at Teatro alla Scala, Vien- na State Opera, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Covent Garden, the Mariinsky Theater, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Conlon has received the Roger E. Joseph Prize from the Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion (2013), the Anti-Defamation League’s Crystal Globe Award (2007), and the Zeminsky Prize (1999) for his worldwide efforts to program and highlight composers who were silenced by the Nazi regime. His honors also include four Grammy Awards, the Medal of the American Liszt Society, the Sachs Fund Prize for his cultural contributions to Cincinnati, and the inaugural Opera News Award, as well as being named to Italy’s Order of Merit and France’s Order of Arts and Letters and Legion of Honor. LUCAS MEACHEM, baritone Born in North Carolina, Lucas Meachem studied music at Appalachian State Univer- sity, the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University before becoming an Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera. It was that compa- ny’s stage where the baritone gave his first per- formance after a year of theaters gone dark, in his signature role of Figaro in Rossini’s The Barber of Seville . After singing Silvio in a film version of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci with Lyric Opera of Chicago last year, Meachem has tak- en on the title role of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Santa Fe Opera, Wolfram in Wag- ner’s Tannhäuser at Los Angeles Opera, Mar- cello in Puccini’s La bohème at the Metropoli- tan Opera and Madrid’s Teatro Real, Athanaël in Massenet’s Thaïs for his La Scala debut, Rossini’s Figaro at Dallas Opera, Sharpless in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Covent Gar- den, and Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen at the Bavarian State Opera, a role he will reprise with the Canadian Opera Company and Paris Opera later this year. Named San Francisco Opera’s inaugural Emerging Star of the Year in 2016, Meachem has compiled extensive credits across the United States, including his first Athanaël at Minnesota Opera (his 50th role debut); General Rayevsky in Prokofiev’s War & Peace , Robert in Tchaikovsky’s Iolan- ta , Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo and Juliette , and Silvio at the Met; Germont in Verdi’s La traviata at Washington National Opera; Chorèbe in Berlioz’s Les Troyens , Demetri- us in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and Valentin in Gounod’s Faust at the Lyric; Fritz/Frank in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt and Mozart’s Papageno in The Magic Flute and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro , and Eugene Onegin with San Francisco Op- era; the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Lyric, Santa Fe Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Cincinnati, and San Francis- co Opera; and Rossini’s Figaro at San Diego Opera, Opera Colorado, Houston Grand Op- era, and Los Angeles Opera, where he gave his Grammy-winning performance of Figaro in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles . Lucas Meachem is making his Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orchestra debuts. RACHEL WILLIS-SØRENSEN, soprano An alum of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and Brigham Young University, where she earned Bachelor andMaster of Music degrees, soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen is a top-prize laureate of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera Au- ditions, 2011 Belvedere Singing Competition, and 2014 Operalia competition. While a member of the Semperoper Dresden for three years, she sang the title role in Lehár’s The Merry Widow , Diemut in R. Strauss’s Feuer- snot , Rosalinde in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus , and Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème , as well as Mozart’s Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte , Vitellia in La clemenza di Tito , Elettra in Idomeneo . In the past year, Willis-Sørensen essayed three roles at Vienna State Opera: first her role de- but as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello , followed by a return to Marguerite in Gounod’s Faust and holiday performances of Rosalinde. She also returned to Dresden to reprise Mimì, and in the spring Willis-Sørensen sang Ellen Orford in Britten’s Peter Grimes at Bavarian State Opera, Elsa in Wagner’s Lohengrin at Oper Frankfurt, and the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka with the Hamburg Radio Symphony. Highlights from previous seasons include Eva in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Covent Garden and San Francisco Opera, where she also sang Rusalka; Hélène in Ver- di’s Les vêpres siciliennes and Mimì at Bavar- ian State Opera; Marschallin in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier at Glyndebourne, Semperoper Dresden, and Covent Garden; Leonora in Verdi’s Il trovatore at the Teatro Regio di Tori- no and Gran Teatre del Liceu; Elsa at Zurich Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she also sang Rosalinde; Violetta in Verdi’s La tra- viata at Bordeaux Opera; Valentine in Mey- erbeer’s Les Huguenots at the Grand Théâtre Genève; and Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Semperoper Dresden, as well as Houston Grand Opera (where she also sang Fiordiligi) and the Met and Vienna State Opera (where she also sang the Countess in the composer’s The Marriage of Figaro ). Her debut album on Sony Classical was released this April. Rachel Willis-Sørensen is making her Ravinia and Chicago Symphony Orches- tra debuts. CRAIG COLCLOUGH, bass-baritone Recently debuted at the Lyric Opera of Chi- cago in the title role of Verdi’s Macbeth , Craig Colclough was first heard professionally on the Los Angeles Opera stage in 2008, appear- ing with the company for two seasons before joining Florida Grand Opera’s Young Artist Studio. As a member of that program, he portrayed the Capitán in Moreno Torroba’s zarzuela Luisa Fernanda , Rambaldo in Puc- cini’s La rondine , Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigolet- to , and Friar Laurent in Gounod’s Roméo at Juliette . In 2012 Colclough became a Filene Young Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, taking on such roles as the Commendatore in Mo- zart’s Don Giovanni , Nick Shadow in Stravin- sky’s The Rake’s Progress , and the title char- acter of Verdi’s Falstaff . He recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Monterone in Verdi’s Rigoletto , having debuted with the company in 2019 as Macbeth, and to Covent Garden as Telramund in Wagner’s Lohengrin following his 2018 debut as Pistola in Falstaff . Colclough was also recently honored with the Eva and Marc Stern Artist Award for his deep connection to LA Opera, having appeared with the company as Monterone, the Bosun in Britten’s Billy Budd , the God of Evil and Procrustes in Morganelli’s Hercules vs. Vam- pires , Simone in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi , and most recently Peter in Humperdicnk’s Hansel & Gretel , with a performance of the title role of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro scheduled for next year. Other stages he has ascended include English National Opera as Jack Rance in Puccinia’s La Fanciulla del West (European debut), Kurwenal in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde (role debut), and Scarpia in Puccini’s Tosca ; Minnesota Opera as Doristo in Martín y Soler’s L’arbore di Diana and the title role of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale ; Arizona Opera as Bishop Dyer in Bohmler’s Riders of the Purple Sage (role debut) and Donner in Wagner’s Das Rheingold ; Opera Queensland as the Storyteller in Adams’s A Flowering Tree ; Boston Lyric Opera as Hare in Grant’s Burke and Hare ; Dallas Opera as Peter Vogel in Korngold’s Der Ring des Polykrates ; and Oper Frankfurt as Fra Melitone in Verdi’s La forza del destino . Craig Colclough made his Ravinia debut in 2014 in the cast of Salome . RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 1 – AUGUST 14, 2022 38 I I ; I ; I I I I